In my opinion, seeking censure by the National AAUP is worth trying. If they decide to censure USM, I wouldn't worry about the reaction from AAUP-haters, although of course there will be some.

And... Thames' behavior is so egregious that the AAUP's national office may be moved to action in this case.

However...I have seen at fairly close quarters how timorous they can be in Washington. The national office is careful to censure only institutions that they think are not prestigious enough to ignore the censure and get away with it.

This is why the national AAUP goes after Charleston Southern and Francis Marion (to pick some recent examples in the Southeast) but not after Clemson. There have been a couple of times in the past decade when the national AAUP could have investigated and censured Clemson, but chose not to get involved. Granted, administrative behavior in these cases was not as flagrant as Shelby Thames', but it was pretty bad all the same.

I should add that if Thames dissolves the Faculty Senate (as happend at Francis Marion, and could still easily happen at USM) AAUP censure is essentially guaranteed.

Robert Campbell